The Djinn
by eroticfan
Summary: A pre-Twilight love story centered around Benjamin, one of the Egyptian coven. Set a few years before Twilight begins, and before Benjamin has met Tia, his mate. Hurt/Comfort, and somewhat Dark. Nominated for the Eddie & Bellie awards.


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I found her in the desert, and she was dying.

It was late, and in my indigo robes I was part of the darkness, a night creature. I was travelling to one of my hidden places - a spring in a rocky cleft with date palms overhead. I caught a trace of her scent on the night air and was curious to know why a human would be so deep in the desert late at night, and alone. She had strayed far from the nearest village.

Even before I reached her, I knew this: that she was young, a woman, and near to death. Her scent told me these things as I ran faster than thought across the shadowed dunes.

I am Benjamin, and I am one of the undead. In Egypt we are called _Dam Iblis_ or the Children of Sekhmet. I had grown tired of my coven - Amun, the leader, had been especially trying lately. He wanted to control the unusual powers I had developed since my change several years ago - powers over the physical world, powers whose limits I was still exploring. But at my own pace, not at Amun's command.

So I took refuge in the desert, preferring solitude to badgering. But this night I was not alone.

She had slid down the face of a dune in her delirium and was crumpled in the hollow, dehydrated and exhausted. I turned her over and she muttered something incoherent. I could see that she had been beautiful, but her eyes were sunken and her skin dry.

I should have left her - or perhaps I should have fed and hastened her end. But I did not. There was something about her helplessness and the mystery of finding her, lost and at the gates of death, so far from the places of men. I was curious, I suppose. And I had fed the day before, on a camel herder I had seen beating his son cruelly. As good an excuse as any.

I carried her to my spring and laid her on the sand, soaking my robe and squeezing water into her mouth. After a while she swallowed painfully and I was able to get her to take some more. It was not safe to give her too much too soon, but I cared for her across the night and when day broke she was sleeping more naturally, her eyes no longer sunken.

I made a bed for her on my robe under a deep rocky overhang to keep the sun from her, and to keep it from reflecting the glittering of my skin. The robe was my usual protection from the eyes of men if I was abroad when the sun was high, but I preferred not to wear it when alone.

But of course I was not alone. I was beginning to regret my impulsive gesture. Her scent was troubling, stirring my thirst even though I had recently fed. In the first faint light of dawn I carried her to the pool of the spring and bathed her, for her feet and knees were cut and crusted with blood, making it more difficult for me to resist. In the growing light I saw that her body was marked with the dark welts of a bad beating and older bruises yellowed and fading. She was still lovely, even with the bruises.

It was foolish to have brought her here, and there was only one likely outcome. But not yet - first I would hear her story. Who had done this to her? I washed her battered body and rinsed the dust from her long dark hair, seeking also to cool her, for she seemed somewhat feverish. A part of me watched and wondered at my actions.

She woke properly at noon on the second day, in my lap. I had been holding her close to me, trying to cool her. She was no longer delirious or dehydrated, but she was very weak. I gave her more water, and she stared up at me, then raised her arm and felt my cool cheek, a look of wonder on her face.

"Am I in paradise then? Are you an angel or a djinn?"

There seemed little point in lying to her. She was not likely to leave this place alive.

"More djinn than angel, little one." She could not have been more than eighteen. So young, to have been used so cruelly. "Are you hungry?"

"A little, yes. But are there not feasts in paradise?"

"This is not paradise, nor have you died." _Yet._ "We are in the desert, four day's travel from the nearest village. Why did you wander so far? You came very close to death."

She turned her face away and closed her eyes. "Not dead? I had hoped…" Her voice was bitter. She looked up at me then, a weary sadness in her eyes. "Why did you not leave me there, djinn? I have no wish to live."

I could not answer her, unsure of my own motives.

"You are hurt. Who has beaten you?" I was angry, and confused by my reaction to her. Why did I care? She was just another human, near the end of a brief life.

"My husband. He beats me often, and for no cause. His jealousy makes cause where there is none. And he knows I do not love him. I hate and fear him. My brother forced the marriage after…"

She turned away again, swallowing, tears forming on her lashes. I smoothed them away.

"What is your name?" Why did I want to know?

"Akilah. And yours, djinn? If djinns have names."

"I am Benjamin."

"Benjamin - so ordinary a name for a djinn."

"I was not always so - once I was human."

"What happened to make you so cold?"

"I was changed, by another of my kind. Have you heard of the _Dam Iblis?_"

"Blood devils? Drinkers of blood...you are one such? But they are just legends."

"Some legends still walk the earth Akilah, even now."

She laughed quietly. "I go to seek Death and find myself waking in his arms. It is meant to be."

"Why do you seek death? Many women are beaten, many have jealous husbands. Could you not run away? There are places where you could find help."

"I have not wanted to live for two years now. Since my father and brothers killed Ehsan." Her voice was bleak. "We were sweethearts, then my father came upon us kissing. We were innocent, nothing more than children, but he was furious and said I was a whore. He would not let me see Ehsan, and my brother arranged the marriage to my husband. They beat me often and kept me locked in a small room. Finally my mother helped me to escape. But Ehsan and I had no money and before we could find a way to leave the district my brothers caught us. They dragged Ehsan away from me and killed him, hiding his body. They made me watch first though, while they strangled him." She closed her eyes, her lashes damp. "That is why I seek death."

I pulled her closer and held her, saddened. I found I was stroking her hair and rocking her, distressed by her pain.

"You are like Ehsan" she whispered against my chest. "You are kind. I have had little kindness in my life." She put her slender arms around me and a strange emotion filled me, a protective tenderness.

I thought about those of our kind who had feelings for human women. Almost always it did not end well, indeed there were incubi who sought out women only to seduce and kill them. And the Volturi in Italy watched that no humans learned of our existence. Now that I had let Akilah see my true nature I faced a stark choice. Change her or kill her, or the Volturi would.

I could not bear to think about that. Akilah touched me in a way that was new, and as well as this unexpected tenderness I felt a cold rage at the men who had harmed her. But they could wait for justice. She still felt febrile, and she needed food.

"Akilah, you must eat - you are weak. Rest here and I will bring some dates."

I laid her down again and flashed across the rocky cleft, scaling a date palm and bringing back a fistful of fruit. She watched me in a daze.

"You shine Benjamin. You are more angel than djinn I think, whatever you say. Except for your eyes."

Yes, my eyes. Dark burgundy red from feeding on humans. I was no angel, whatever she believed.

I made her eat some dates and drink more water, and lay down close to her again to cool her. I was worried that her skin was hotter than before. But I could not let her leave here, or take her to a hospital. Not now that I had told her about myself.

I pulled her to me, fitting her to my body to bring down her fever. And because I wanted to feel her against me, if I was honest.

She slept for a time, and when she woke she lay quietly against me, nestling into my chest and stroking me gently. Her touch filled me with a longing verging on pain.

She reached up then and traced my lips, holding my eyes. "Benjamin, I am dying I think. It will not be long, but I want…I want…"

I put my cheek on her hair and closed my eyes. Dying, yes…but I could prevent that, if I changed her.

"What do you want, Akilah?"

"Ehsan and I never…we only kissed, as I said. My husband has given me nothing but pain, using me like an animal. I have never had pleasure. I would die knowing what it is like to make love…if djinns make love…?"

"Yes, but it is difficult with a human - we can break you so easily. I have never…not with a human." Especially as she was already hurt.

"Please my djinn, can we not try? I know I am ugly now, but could you not be kind to me before I am gone?"

I pulled her closer and kissed her softly on the lips. She moved against me and I ached for her.

"You are not ugly Akilah. I find you beautiful."

"Then love me, Benjamin." Her hands burned on my skin.

There were ways to give pleasure that would not break her...perhaps I could…if I were very careful.

I pressed her gently back onto the robe in the shade of the rocks and hovered over her, kissing and caressing every inch of her skin - especially the welts and bruises that covered her arms and stomach. Her breathing quickened. Lying half across her, I stroked her golden-brown breasts, taking them into my mouth, sucking the dark nipples as they swelled under my tongue. Akilah's head fell back and she moaned.

I slid one hand down to her mound and caressed the soft, dark hair curling there as she pressed herself against my hand and gasped. Her heart pounded under my mouth. I slid my fingers between her legs then gently inside her, fucking her softly, rolling my thumb across her sensitive flesh. She was wet and hot and I wanted her so badly. She moaned, writhing a little and straining up against me, hands clenched in the robe, her legs opening helplessly. She was so lovely, and her vulnerability added to my longing, my hardness pressed against her thigh. I moved my hips, rubbing myself against her. I burned to spread her legs and enter her, but I dared not.

Akilah arched up against my hand and threw her head back, crying out. I held her close, then gently turned her onto her side and lay behind her, curling her up and curving around her, my hand still between her legs, stroking her sex. Parting her legs a little I slid myself between them, pushing my need into her warmth and wetness. I moved between her thighs and she held me there, making the pleasure more intense. I was groaning now, lost in the glorious feeling of her body caressing me, embracing me.

She moved with me, whimpering, and I rolled her a little onto her front, moving urgently between her legs now, fingers inside her again, kissing her neck, holding her to me tightly.

Hot, so hot and lovely, oh my Akilah, oh my love, fucking you, touching you, coming now, coming, _oh Akilah._ I cried her name, shuddering and thrusting helplessly, spilling myself in the heat between her thighs as she cried out in my arms.

We lay together for a time, content to rest. Later I carried her to the spring, and washed us both. So the time passed, nestled in my robe again as we whispered to each other, touching and exploring.

"Show me a wonder Benjamin, since you are a djinn." Teasing me.

And I used my powers to entertain her, calling up a whirling dervish of sand the height of a man, lifting a stone the size of an orange to hover spinning in the air above her palm. She laughed to see it, and said I was truly her djinn. Then she slept again, and woke in the twilight. I got her to drink, and tried to make her eat some more dates, but she was listless and took little food.

She lay quietly against me, then she kissed my neck and said "Thank you, Benjamin. If I could be healed, you would be the one..."

"There is a way," I found myself saying. I wanted to keep her with me, to care for her. I did not want her to die. Surely in time I could comfort her. "If I change you Akilah, if I make you like me…it is painful at first, but then you would be healed…or at least you would not die a human death."

"But I would become a djinn like you? A _Dam Iblis?_ I would feed on the living?"

I could not deny it.

"How long would this existence last?"

"Forever, Akilah. We die into this life - as a djinn, if you will - and then we are immortal. But you would not be alone - I would be with you. I cannot bear to lose you now…I love you."

She turned herself to face me, taking my face in her hands and kissing my lips.

"Love is not always enough, sweet djinn, and I do love you, ruined though I am. But I cannot live that life, drinking from others. And the thought of immortality is abhorrent to me. To live with the memories forever…with the loss…I could not bear it."

Pain washed through me. I had not chosen this life either. Amun had changed me for his own ends, and I had made the best of it. But I could not force her to embrace this cold existence, killing to survive, no longer human. So she would die, injured and delirious, and I would lose her. My eyes were dry but still I wept.

"I have one other request, Benjamin. I can feel that I am dying and the fever is worsening. I have no wish to linger in pain, incoherent, my mind gone. I want you to end me, to speed my death. There will be a little pain, I know, but better that than a slow end. Please, my love, I want you to take me into you as I leave this life. Then I can be with you for a little longer, even after death. Make me one with you."

I turned away, pain and temptation warring in me. I could not do this, I would not. I tried to reason with her, but there were few arguments I could muster. She was dying and we both knew it - I could smell it in her. She would not let me change her and she could not leave this place.

In the end she wore me down.

We lay together through the night, touching and stroking, mouths on each other, comforting each other with our bodies. At dawn she said it was time, she would go now in the soft early light.

I drew her into my arms and kissed her lips, holding her close and whispering into her hair. "It will hurt only for a brief time Akilah. I will be as gentle as I can, but once I start to feed I will not be able to stop. You are certain about this?"

"I am certain, Benjamin. Farewell my djinn - you cannot know what this time with you has meant to me. Remember me."

Tears would have been a kindness, but they were denied me. My throat constricted and I could barely speak. "Forever, Akilah my love."

"Now Benjamin - take me now." She twined her hands in my hair, pulling me down to her neck, to the river of blood.

And I opened her soft throat and tasted her, allowing the thirst that I had been denying to invade me and sweep me beyond thought or regret. Her blood filled my senses as I clung to her, helpless in the ecstasy of feeding. She moaned, then sighed softly and her head fell back. Her limp hands slid away from my hair, and she was gone, her heart quiet.

I buried her in the sand under the palms and covered her grave with a cairn of stones. I could not stay there, too filled with pain and rage at the fate which had brought us together too late then wrenched her away. Too confused by loving her and ending her, the memory of her sweet blood hot in my mouth.

I found the men who had tortured her and snapped their necks, leaving them in the dry desert to be torn apart by scavengers. I would not feed from such carrion, not with her blood burning in my eyes and on my lips.

Then I ran through the barren desert for uncounted days and nights not caring where I went, trying to outstrip the grief but not succeeding, feeding savagely on the few unlucky nomads I encountered. In the end, I returned to the spring and lay beside her grave for a long time, mourning.

It is not quite as painful now, and I visit her at the spring in the rocks whenever I can. I am closer to her there.

I wonder if she found the paradise she spoke of. Closing my eyes I see her in a bright garden, fountains splashing, tiled courtyards cool in the shade of graceful archways and pillars. In my dream I stand before her and she is whole and lovely. I take her in my arms, kiss her soft lips and draw her down with me into a bed of pillows.

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End file.
